Tuesday, July 31, 2012

DAY 113- (English podcast click here)

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DAY 113 - Your King Is Coming to Set You Free! (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)


Today's Reading: John 12: 9-19

**For a simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please click this link: Subject Shifting Devotion.pdf.

Please click this link to read John 12: 9-19

Bible Study

There is a very important historical background in this passage that many people do not know. N.T. Wright gives us perhaps the best explanation I have ever heard. Here is his finding:
Although it's the wrong time of the year, the symbols of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem go with Hanukkah - which John has already mentioned in 10:22(The feast of Dedication). When Judas Maccabaeus defeated the pagan invaders and cleansed the Temple in 164 BC, his followers entered the city waving palm branches in celebration (1 Maccabees 13:51; 2 Maccabees 10: 7, these books are from Apocrypha, for more information about Apocrypha please click the three links as follows, the first is in English, the other two are in Chinese: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_apocrypha, http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/次經 , http://a2z.fhl.net/Deuterocanon/Deuterocanon15.html ) . Now, even though it's in the spring, not mid-winter when Hanukkah is celebrated, Jesus' followers wave palm branches to welcome him.
We don't have to look far to find out why. Hanukkah was when Judas and his family became kings of Israel. Jesus and his followers were, so to speak, bringing together Hanukkah and Passover. They were saying both that Jesus was the true king, come to claim his throne, and that this was the moment when God would set Israel free once and for all. The ride on the donkey, with its echo of Zechariah 9:9, makes the same point. And John adds other echoes of prophecies and psalms which all point in the same direction. Jesus is the true king, coming at last to set his people free.

I do hope N.T. Wright's message gives you a clearer picture of what was really happening in this passage. Most people at that time welcomed Jesus as the king coming at last to set them free. But, in their terms, just like another Maccabaeus, and not on Jesus terms, the Cross!

How well do you welcome Jesus into your life as Savior, Lord and King? In what terms do you welcome Him?

Have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"



Spiritual Journal

What I heard from Jesus today is: Your King is coming to set you free!

The message I received from Jesus today is a joyful welcoming of Jesus that He comes to set us free. On the other hand, it is also a deep thought in our souls that Jesus wants to challenge us by saying, "In what terms do you welcome me to come as a King to set you free? Your terms or my terms? If you welcome me, you welcome the Cross, the servanthood but not the kingship, the lordship! I am the way, the truth and the life. I am the light of the world. I am your Lord! Follow me to the Cross to be free and to set others free!"

Dear Lord Jesus,
I am willing to follow you to the Cross to be free and to set others free. Lead me, change me and teach me. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.


Please click this link to worship with us - You Are My All in All
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC617kE1maU&feature=related

Chinese praise song - 这一生最美的祝福 The Most Wonderful Blessing of My Life


You can subscribe to my podcast feed here:http://feeds.feedburner.com/discipler123



You may choose to follow my first blog which I started in July 2009:http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/

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Monday, July 30, 2012

DAY 112- (English podcast click here)

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DAY 112 - When Are You Going to Give A Pure Nard Offering? (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)


Today's Reading: John 12: 1-8

**For a simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please click this link: Subject Shifting Devotion.pdf.

Please click this link to read John 12: 1-8

Bible Study

Mary's actions demonstrated great sacrifice, devotion and love. She did not care what anyone else but Jesus thought about her. And Jesus received her cat of devotion. Mary's faith and devotion to Jesus is the highest example of what God desires in his follower.

Do you think you have that kind of faith and devotion to Jesus that you can give a pure nard offering at least once in your life time?

Have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"



Spiritual Journal

What I heard from Jesus today is: When are you going to give a pure nard offering?

I do not know anyone so far as I know can make an offering like what Mary's did. An offering in the amount of a year's salary! How can someone do that? It must be out of total trust and most intimate relationship just like a husband can give his life to his wife or a wife to give her life to her husband! Judas did not understand that kind of devotion but Jesus accepted graciously.

There always a question in my heart from Jesus, "When are you going to give a pure nard offering to me?"

How do you respond to this question? I don't think Jesus is not talking about how much we can give but how much we really devote to Him!

Dear Lord Jesus,
Help us to be able to give a pure nard offering to you someday because of our intimate relationship with you. You are our all in all. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.


Please click this link to worship with us - You Are My All in All
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC617kE1maU&feature=related

Chinese praise song - 这一生最美的祝福 The Most Wonderful Blessing of My Life


You can subscribe to my podcast feed here:http://feeds.feedburner.com/discipler123



You may choose to follow my first blog which I started in July 2009:http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/

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Sunday, July 29, 2012

DAY 111- (English podcast click here)

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DAY 111 - Right Timing to Die! (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)


Today's Reading: John 11: 47-57

**For a simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please click this link: Subject Shifting Devotion.pdf.

Please click this link to read John 11: 47-57

Bible Study

This passage gives us a clear picture of why the authorities wanted Jesus to die and the right time, God's time for Jesus to die.

N.T. Wright explains how the two timing coming into one:
Jesus, it seems, was anxious on his own account to save the sheep from just those wolves. There is a strange coming together between his own sense of the father's vocation (to protect the sheep from the predators, even at the cost of his own life) and the cynical suggestion of Caiaphas that if one person were to die the whole nation might be spared.

For those wolves, they wanted Jesus to die because they did not want the Romans to come in destroying them and the whole nation because they thought Jesus was to stir up a revolution just like all those revolutionary movements in recent times. For Jesus, it was God's time for him to die in the festival of Passover, when the lambs were killed to celebrate God's promise of freedom.

What have you got from this two-fold timing? God's timing is always the best timing! Do you believe that? Do you still afraid of dying?

Have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"



Spiritual Journal

What I heard from Jesus today is: Right timing to die!

What Jesus revealed to me today is to have a good example to remove the fear of death. If you tell me that you do not afraid to die, I think you must be joking. When the time comes, I think no one can say that there is no fear. But, how about if you have a daily intimate personal relationship with Jesus. I am sure that will be another story. You will surely know that you cannot die if that is not the right timing for God to welcome you in heaven. And if that's the right timing, then I don't think anyone on earth can stop that to happen.

So, from now on we should enjoy everyday God gives us to live and have no fear of death. If and only if we have a daily intimate personal relationship with Jesus! Nothing more and nothing less!

Dear Lord Jesus,
Help us to enjoy life everyday believing that you have the right time to take care of us because you are our good shepherd. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.


Please click this link to worship with us - Draw Me Close to You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLNL49TFC_8&feature=related

Chinese praise song - 足印 Footprint


You can subscribe to my podcast feed here:http://feeds.feedburner.com/discipler123



You may choose to follow my first blog which I started in July 2009:http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/

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Saturday, July 28, 2012

DAY 110- (English podcast click here)

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DAY 110 - Come out! Take off! (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)


Today's Reading: John 11: 38-46

**For a simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please click this link: Subject Shifting Devotion.pdf.

Please click this link to read John 11: 38-46

Bible Study

This passage shows us two very important things that we need to know and practice:
1. Only Jesus can raise up people from the dead.
2. Jesus calls us to take off the grave clothes of those he resurrected and let them go.

What have you got from these two steps?

Have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"



Spiritual Journal

What I heard from Jesus today is: Come out! Take off!

What I got from Jesus today is that He needs us to know that only He can release someone from the dead. There are quite a number of people including Christians are among the dead, live in darkness and unable to change. Jesus will use us to go to them and ask Jesus to take them out from their "dead" and darkness.

But, after that Jesus will call you to take off those things wrapping them for so long that they are just like corpses. They cannot pull themselves away from a lifestyle of the world or even a lifestyle of Satan. Jesus take them out from that kind of "deadly" control but He needs us to take off those "addiction" or obstacles.

Do you know the difference of what are those things you can't do but only Jesus can do. And, what are those things that Jesus won't do but ask you to do? If you know, then do it ASAP!

Dear Lord Jesus,
Help us to know that you are the Messiah, not us. Only you can raise up someone from the dead. Lord, show us in your own way that we have the responsibility to take off those obstacles from those whom you prepare for us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.


Please click this link to worship with us - Draw Me Close to You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLNL49TFC_8&feature=related

Chinese praise song - 足印 Footprint


You can subscribe to my podcast feed here:http://feeds.feedburner.com/discipler123



You may choose to follow my first blog which I started in July 2009:http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/

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